1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates in one aspect to liquid loading of vessels. In a particular embodiment, this invention relates to a system for filling a substrate having at least one chamber with a liquid sample, such as a system for filling a card-like member having a plurality of sample detection chambers with a liquid sample to react with reagents located in the sample detection chambers during thermal cycling of a polymerase chain reaction (PCR) process. In another aspect, the present invention relates to an apparatus for positioning a substrate in a detection unit.
2. Description of the Related Art
Biological testing has become an important tool in detecting and monitoring diseases. Recent developments in the field have spurred growth in the number of tests that are performed. Performing great numbers of these tests may be costly and time consuming. One way of minimizing costs is to reduce the size of the samples that are being tested and increase the number of samples that can be tested during each run of a thermal cycling unit or other like device. Therefore, it is often desirable to test a large number of samples having a small sample size. A substrate for simultaneously testing a large number of analytes which has a small sample size and a large number of detection chambers has been described in WO97/36681, assigned to the assignee of the present application, the contents of which are hereby incorporated by reference herein.
It is desirable to provide a system for filling a substrate having a large number of small detection chambers in a manner that is safe, reliable, and fast. Previous methods require laborious steps and can expose the operator performing these steps to reagents. Moreover, previous methods may permit undue contamination between detection chambers and may be prone to the presence of air bubbles in the detection chambers. In light of the foregoing, there is a need for a system and method that overcomes the disadvantages of the previous methods.